The only problem i really see is player complaining about scripts, this is not our problem, so infact we are making steps forward, the script makers are just not keeping up.
Not so much that, but, script makers can't actually do anything until the updates are present. I realize there is the beta server, which does infact serve the purpose of giving scripters a head start on scripting things, however, and, I'm not entirely clear as to wether this is now a regular thing, or a one of before an update thing, but, for example, I started an account on beta, and whilst there is now free premium for two weeks starting on the 20th of the month (again, don't know if thats a regular thing)...
A) I didn't know anything about it before hand (For it to be effective, regular scripting contributors actually need to be made aware of it.)
B) Thats all well and good, but, a player needs to be rather advanced through the game to test alot of the scripts available, and given that, we would need to commit to beta as a full time world, in order for it to be a useful platform for testing.
I know I wasn't out of BP for more than 5 minutes (on BETA), before I came under attack. It's a BETA world, why are there people there playing seriously, it somewhat inhibits testing for many scripters. I realize that the game needs to be played properly to have been tested thoroughly, however, as we can plainly see, many of the things that were supposedly tested well in advance, clearly do not work, and others are clearly strongly not wanted by the community.
As it stands, as both a scripter, and as the script moderator, I am a volunteer. I don't actively play the game, and only need accounts in order to contribute to the community.
Many of the things brought in with the 7.0 update are not in the spirit of the game either. Who thought that the account manager (as an example), was a good idea. I stand by my opinion (and the opinion of many others), that all it is, is a bot that has been deemed legal, because inno can profit from it. That said, for the most part, and, as far as I've been told, the 7.0 features were thoroughly tested, for the most part, it doesn't work.
Not to mention the completely unnecessary change to the map, which I point out, now takes a ridiculous amount of extra code to script for.
The additional graphics go against the spirit of the game. This is meant to be a Text based browser game, and its now bogged down with unnecessary graphic, that as best I can tell, nobody requested.
Many of the old features are now broken also.
Oh, and while I'm at it, load times. I seen post after post where we are told that v7 is faster than v6.5. Where is your evidence. In all my tests, it has been nothing greater than one half of the speed it had been previously. It may be faster for the server, but it is a significant drag on the client systems. The map also seems to cause huge memory leaks in atleast two of the major browsers. Memory leaks that I've been unable to reproduce anywhere else.
Is not hard to read at all.
- Who thought this was a good idea? - The Developers, follows an international known signal, red, yellow, green.
- Who approved it? - Developers and Beta Users, no complaints on our Beta forums.
- Who playtested it? - Beta players, again no complaints.
Personally, I find this very difficult to read.